Around-the-World Brief: 'Potter' Passes 'Rings'

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With help from a strong opening in China, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 reached its final major milestone this weekend. On Sunday, it passed The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to move up to third place on the all-time worldwide (domestic plus foreign) chart with $1.134 billion. It only trails James Cameron's Avatar ($2.78 billion) and Titanic ($1.84 billion) but by insurmountable margins.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 earned an estimated $61.8 million from 61 markets, which included a very roughly-estimated $25.5 million debut in China. That's by-far the biggest Chinese opening ever for a Harry Potter movie. The movie's foreign total reached $791.1 million, and it will move past Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in the next day or two to claim third place on the all-time foreign chart. It should finish with around $900 million overseas, which will push its worldwide total past $1.25 billion.

It's important to note that while overseas ticket price inflation data is tricky to come by, Deathly Hallows Part 2 would obviously not rank third all-time in ticket sales. It's sold fewer tickets than Return of the King, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and many older movies as well.

The Smurfs expanded to 42 territories this weekend (up from seven last weekend) and earned an impressive $45.2 million. It took first place in most of its markets, including Brazil ($6.65 million), France ($5.93 million), Mexico ($5.53 million) and Germany ($5.43 million). Distributor Sony Pictures International emphasized that Smurfs opened ahead of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel in many of its territories. That movie ended up with over $223 million overseas, though it had the advantage of playing through the holidays. Including its openings last weekend, Smurfs has already made $52.8 million overseas.

Captain America: The First Avenger dipped 45 percent to $27.5 million from 41 markets. It opened to $2.5 million in Spain, which wasn't impressive, and $1.2 million in Hong Kong. It also had solid holdover performances in Brazil ($4.2 million), Mexico ($3.2 million), the United Kingdom ($2.3 million), Australia ($2.1 million) and Russia ($1.9 million). It has now made $103 million overseas for a worldwide total of $246 million.

Corresponding with its domestic opening, Rise of the Planet of the Apes debuted to $23.4 million in 25 markets. It only opened in a few major territories, scoring $5.2 million in Spain, $5.1 million in Australia and $5 million in Russia. It adds 15 regions next weekend, including the U.K., France and Germany.

Cars 2 kept rolling overseas, grossing an estimated $20.1 million from 41 territories for a total of $258.4 million. Early last week it passed the original Cars's $217.9 million total, and it remains 60 percent ahead of that movie in comparable territories.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon continued its remarkable run with an estimated $17.5 million from 62 markets. Its top two territories were China ($6.9 million) and Japan ($4.4 million), and its overseas total reached $693.5 million. That brought its worldwide total to $1.038 billion, and it inched ahead of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to rank seventh all-time and second on the year behind Harry Potter.

After some quiet weekends, Super 8 expanded in to a few key markets and burst back on to the charts. It earned $15.5 million from 49 territories thanks to decent debuts in France ($5 million), the U.K. ($3.3 million), Mexico ($2.2 million) and Germany ($2 million). Its foreign total reached $76.5 million for a worldwide total of over $200 million.